$25 million donation bolsters S.A. cancer center — and...

1of 8Lowry and Peggy Mays (center) watch as a sign is unveiled renaming the Cancer Therapy and Research Center the Mays Cancer Center.Photo: John Davenport / San Antonio Express-News

2of 8Balloons are released as a sign is unveiled Tuesday January 30, 2018 after it was announced that a $25 million donation to the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center by the Mays Family Foundation was made. It adds to a $5 million gift from 2015 that created an endowed position for the the centers director. The additional donation prompted the University of Texas System regents to authorize the renaming of the former Cancer Therapy and Research Center as the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio. The center is located at 7979 Wurzbach Road.Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News

3of 8Texas state senator Jose Menendez speaks Tuesday January 30, 2018 after it was announced that a $25 million donation to the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center by the Mays Family Foundation was made. It adds to a $5 million gift from 2015 that created an endowed position for the the centers director. The additional donation prompted the University of Texas System regents to authorize the renaming of the former Cancer Therapy and Research Center as the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio. The center is located at 7979 Wurzbach Road.Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News

4of 8Dignitaries speak Tuesday January 30, 2018 after it was announced that a $25 million donation to the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center by the Mays Family Foundation was made. It adds to a $5 million gift from 2015 that created an endowed position for the the centers director. The additional donation prompted the University of Texas System regents to authorize the renaming of the former Cancer Therapy and Research Center as the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio. The center is located at 7979 Wurzbach Road.Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News

5of 8Kathryn Mays Johnson speaks Tuesday January 30, 2018 after it was announced that a $25 million donation to the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center by the Mays Family Foundation was made. It adds to a $5 million gift from 2015 that created an endowed position for the the centers director. The additional donation prompted the University of Texas System regents to authorize the renaming of the former Cancer Therapy and Research Center as the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio. The center is located at 7979 Wurzbach Road.Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News

6of 8Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff (right) shakes hands with Dr. William L. Henrich, MACP, President UT Health San Antonio, Tuesday January 30, 2018 after it was announced that a $25 million donation to the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center by the Mays Family Foundation was made. It adds to a $5 million gift from 2015 that created an endowed position for the the centers director. The additional donation prompted the University of Texas System regents to authorize the renaming of the former Cancer Therapy and Research Center as the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio. The center is located at 7979 Wurzbach Road.Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News

7of 8University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven (right) speaks Tuesday January 30, 2018 after it was announced that a $25 million donation to the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center by the Mays Family Foundation was made. It adds to a $5 million gift from 2015 that created an endowed position for the the centers director. The additional donation prompted the University of Texas System regents to authorize the renaming of the former Cancer Therapy and Research Center as the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio. The center is located at 7979 Wurzbach Road. Seated on the left are Texas Senator Jose Menendez and James C. "Rad" Weaver, The University of Texas Board of Regents (left, center).Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News

8of 8Balloons are released as a sign is unveiled Tuesday January 30, 2018 after it was announced that a $25 million donation to the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center by the Mays Family Foundation was made. It adds to a $5 million gift from 2015 that created an endowed position for the the centers director. The additional donation prompted the University of Texas System regents to authorize the renaming of the former Cancer Therapy and Research Center as the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio. The center is located at 7979 Wurzbach Road.Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News

While curing cancer remains a far-away but widely shared hope, UT Health San Antonio celebrated a step toward that dream Tuesday, announcing a Mays Family Foundation gift of $25 million to kick-start its cancer center’s new partnership with the Houston-based MD Anderson Cancer Center.

An enthusiastic crowd of about 300 staff and faculty — joined by Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and state Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio — interrupted the announcement on the lawn of the South Texas Medical Center campus with cheers and applause.

As the Cancer Therapy and Research Center was renamed in honor of the Mays family, Dr. William Henrich, the president of UT Health, called the moment an inflection point in its history.

“Cancer has aptly been called ‘the emperor of all maladies.’ The disease has been acknowledged to be the most difficult to diagnose accurately, and the most challenging to treat with precision,” Henrich said. “Defeating its complexity requires leading-edge science, consummate team work, perseverance and courage, all in equal measure.”

It was the fourth private donation of $25 million ever given to UT Health, said its spokesman Will Sansom. The original acquisition of the center by the University of Texas System in 2007 was made possible by more than $25 million allocated over several years by the center’s foundation.

The latest gift will partly be spent recruiting at least 10 endowed faculty positions and partly on cutting-edge research and therapies, said Dr. Ruben Mesa, the center’s director.

The partnership with MD Anderson is expected to be activated this year, with hopes of integrating some of Houston’s top-tier research and processes into UT Health San Antonio. The idea is that more San Antonians will have access to top-quality cancer treatment without having to travel for it.

“Think of the kids growing up with their parents, think of the parents spared the loss of a child. Think of San Antonians and South Texans from all walks of life living longer, healthier, more productive and happier lives,” said UT System Chancellor William McRaven.

McRaven is battling leukemia, but during Tuesday’s ceremony he said cancer’s greatest impact on him was his mother’s 1984 lung cancer diagnosis. She died two years later.

“We have an obligation to use this gift wisely,” he said. “To prove, day after day, year after year, within those walls, that the confidence of the Mays family is well-placed.”

The Mays Family Foundation also donated $5 million in 2015 to continually fund the director’s position at the cancer center.

At the end of the announcement, audience members rose from their seats to stare up at the building behind them, its top draped in white fabric. At Henrich’s word, balloons exploded into the air and the fabric lifted, revealing the words “Mays Cancer Center” emblazed on the building — a temporary designation before a formal sign is installed.

“My parents’ vision has always been to strengthen this community … and it’s our hope that this will be a place close to home where all of San Antonio and South Texas can come when they hear those words: ‘You have cancer,’” said Kathryn Mays Johnson, president of the foundation and daughter of Lowry and Peggy Mays, its founders. “And I can assure you, those words are life-altering.”

“To have a collaborative center in our own community that will elevate the cancer care available right here is going to change the lives of so many.”

Silvia was born and mostly raised in Galesburg, Illinois. After high school she took a gap year and spent it in Mexico before pursuing her bachelor’s in English at Grinnell College.

She interned at Minnesota Public Radio and wrote in English and Spanish for the bilingual, Chicago-based newspaper Extra News. In 2015, she won the two-year Hearst Journalism Fellowship and moved to Connecticut to report for Greenwich Time, the Connecticut Post and the Norwalk Hour.

One year later, she moved to Texas to cover education for the San Antonio Express-News, where she now covers immigration. She has also been the lead reporter following the Sutherland Springs community in the wake of the November 2017 church massacre.

She loves breakfast tacos, frequently uses “y’all” in her vocabulary and always has a stash of cascarones at her desk, so it’s safe to say she’s fully embraced the San Antonio way.